Floral tributes were paid on Friday to the security personnel who laid down their lives while repulsing the terrorist attack on the Parliament House complex on this day last year.
Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders visited the site, which witnessed a fierce gunbattle with terrorists, and offered flowers at the portraits of the martyrs.
US ambassador Robert Blackwill also visited Parliament House to offer floral tributes.
Advani spoke to ANI cameraman Vikram Singh Bisht, who was seriously injured in the attack, as also some of the widows of the Delhi police personnel.
"A lot has been done (since the attack). Steps have been taken to strengthen security," Advani told a private television channel.
"The area is much safer than what it was earlier. Entry into the compound is not as easy as it was at that point of time (December 13, 2001)," Advani said.
The alertness of the security personnel thwarted the terrorists, he said. Else, "democracy would have been brutally mauled," he said praising the security personnel.
Parliament House and the Central Hall would have witnessed a bloodbath, which would have undermined the whole political set up of India, he said.
The Attack on Parliament: Complete Coverage